Divergence
by BlobO'Puff
Summary: Due to Prussia's recklessness, the book and the pen that Japan devised brought Prussia, Spain, Austria, Poland, Iceland and Norway to another dimension. While they are stuck in the realm controlled by someone who has the book and the pen in his hands, Japan and Sweden - in the real world - seeks to find that someone and get them out.
1. Chapter 1

**Divergence - Chapter 1**

This story is a collaboration between me and someone-who-does-not-wish-to-reveal-her-pen-name-t o-me. we do chapters alternatively starting with hers first. enjoy :D~

A/N 29May: hiii. sorry for the late notice but if this is ur first time reading this, chapter 5 and after wouldn't make sense

1June: chapter 5 and 6 are up ((:

13June: ch.7!

18June: ch.8!

19June: ch.9's up and the story shall continue as normal - or normal in my context x:

* * *

Poland fiddled with stray strands of his blond hair. Detention was such a drag. It wasn't his fault that the dreary school had looked so dull and lacked lustre and the walls had practically been begging him for a makeover.

So Poland, being the courteous person he was, had voluntarily splashed buckets of various shades of pink across the walls behind the gymnasium. It was fun, although it would have been much more fun if Lithuania would have joined. Poland grinned as he remembered the pride that had swelled in his heart as he painted the pink unicorns and rabbits, and huge, gargantuan, fluffy, pink clouds.

Feeling bored, Poland flicked eraser dust off the table and watched as they flew off the table. Detention was a place for low lifers; Poland certainly wasn't one of them. Or that's what he told himself.

* * *

"You're going to apologize for wrecking havoc among your friends," Norway hissed at a petulant Iceland.

Iceland had offhandedly thrown a wayward insult at his Italian classmate, whose dimwits and air headedness only thinned Iceland's diminishing patience.

He had started a fight with the timid Italian down the corridor; Iceland had spat venomous insults as his temper had finally snapped when the Italian had asked him an extremely insensitive question regarding his hair.

Upon hearing all the noise, Norway had decided to nose his way into the fight. And to his horror, his dear little brother was the cause of all the chaos. Feeling embarrassed of his brother's hotheadedness, he decided to rear his ugly head and started a whole new commotion over the image of their family name and whatnot.

Of course the teachers had thrown both brothers into the detention class for creating a din that disrupted other ongoing classes. Norway was fuming and Iceland was pissed.

"…" Sweden sat wordlessly as he watched the two brothers give each other the cold shoulder. Denmark and Finland had both been extremely concerned about the two, but since Denmark was busy with Chemistry class and Finland with Literature, they had both sent Sweden to watch over the two squabbling boys.

Naturally Sweden wouldn't be allowed for detention class as no one had tossed his name into the list, but with a gaze that icy, teachers could always make exceptions.

* * *

And what's detention without the usual gang of four? Except this time France was sick in bed. Spain, Prussia and Austria were at it again. Who would have thought that straight-A and musical genius Austria would get into detention often? No one of course. Unless you threw Prussia into the equation, then that was a completely different matter.

"So Prissy Boy, what's your new tactic of escaping detention today?" chortled Prussia. He was enjoying this, certainly he was.

"Oh shut up, you… you moron." Austria sniffed.

"Moron? Is that the worst you can come up with? Heh! You ought to get a dictionary for insulting and cuss words! You're lacking the talent there, chummy."

"Haha! Chummy! What's that? ( xD ) " Spain laughed. Spain wasn't much of a troublemaker, but friends had to stick together and well, they go to detention together too.

Too bad France isn't here today, Spain thought dismally. France, with his perverse senses, would have made the argument more intriguing.

* * *

Poland sulked quietly in the corner for a while as he watched everyone else enjoy their time in detention. _Why couldn't Liet by here too?_ Poland pouted.

As the room filled with buzzing conversations and laughter, Poland frowned. Really. How was this detention when it didn't feel as if they were being punished? Maybe he should make a run for it; after all, he needed to restock on pink paint.

Just then, the doors to the detention room were flung open by Japan. He looked elated and had an air of great accomplishment as he strode into the room.

"Prussia! I've done it! I've created the greatest device in the history of mankind!" Japan smiled innocently.

Poland noticed Japan holding something in his hands. Removing the purple silk cloth that covered the object with a flourish, Japan revealed a small mahogany box, polished to perfect shine.

"A box?" Prussia asked incredulously, obviously he had been expecting something grander.

"No, no. Don't be silly!" Japan laughed, "It's inside the box!"

Suddenly the whole room became stock still silent as Japan proceeded to open the box.

* * *

re-uploaded 23/03/13 (DD/MM/YY)(:


	2. Chapter 2

**Divergence - Chapter 2**

**.**

* * *

Japan blinked. Twice. _I feel like I've been here before… _He shot a glance to his left and right. _Right… _He yawned, rubbed his damp eyes, and tried again. More than half the students had already nodded off if not close to falling asleep on either of his side, probably caused by the constant buzzing and screeching at the front of the class. A round and plump man was sketching untidy, Greek patterns on the bottle green chalkboard and explaining them at the same time, all the while referring to a thin sheaf of sheets in his left arm.

_Trigo equations, _Japan's inner voice told him,_ it's Math lesson now and Mr. Hammock is – not quite – explaining how the differentiation of trigo equations are done. The exact same equations you'd done just hours ago. _Déjà vu – he presumed.

With a final screech of chalk being roughly abused, Mr Hammock turned round and put his hands behind his back in a pose of seniority. "Do you understand, class?"

A moment of not so awkward silence. Then Japan got up, pushed his chair in, and walked out of the classroom as if it was the most casual thing on earth to do.

_- 6 hours ago_

"… Seriously? That's it?"

The box contained a plain nib pen and a self-binded book – or at least it was plain to Prussia. Norway, Iceland, Poland and Sweden gathered round Japan and the others, as if the pen and the book had baited them and reeled them in, promising them that they were indeed interesting to the four of them like one baiting fish with worms. The nib pen had a deep, dark black metal casing with occasional silver lining that glinted off light in uncanny beautiful spectrums of colours even though it was still and unmoving. The pen's clip was sparkling silver and had intricate engravings on it too minute to be deciphered, and which only a skilled craftsman trained in the arts of carving could do it. The book was leather-bounded, though smoother and more polished than any other leather products, rimmed by a silver border. The book was held shut by silver clasps, made by four strips of silver metal weaving and criss-crossing each other from beginning to the end. They met in the middle, where they converged into a lantern-like shape that seemed to glow a fiery gold.

If Japan was offended, he didn't show it, though he exuded an air of pride similar to that of a parent's seeing their child top the school as he explained. "Do not belittle it. This pen I had put together using only the finest metals and its ink the purest and of highest quality," He indicated the nib pen and then moved on to the book, "… and this book I had meticulously binded the smoothest papers from the trees high up on some mountain that is probably unreachable for you."

Everyone of them in the detention room looked at Japan's contraption in awe, some showing it more than the others. Maybe not everyone, let's not forget that there's a certain fidgety and ignorant Prussian. "Let the Awesome try it out then!" With that, Prussia hastily snatched the pen from the box and the book from Japan's hand and set the two items down on his assigned detention table with a loud thump. "Nn- !" Japan hardly had time nor composure to stop Prussia as he gaped wide-eyed at the Prussian's antics, his voice choked in his throat. His pen! His book! They were being handled roughly by the filthy and tainted hands of one not appreciative of his invention!

No one saw Japan's face – it was good they didn't, lucky for Japan – as they watched in anticipation and curiosity as to what came next.

Flipping to a random page, Prussia hovered the pen just above the paper and got ready to scrawl in big, bold letters of, of course, his all important and mighty name.

"NO! STOP PRUSSIA! PLEASE!" Japan cried out, having found his voice back.

But it was too late.

It all happened in slow motion. A huge, mischievous grin on his face, Prussia had only gotten the tip of the pen just an atom's breadth above the page. The pen had a drop of ink lingering on its tip when its cap was removed and the droplet of ominous black ink dripped onto the page. In the next instant, the page had completely soaked up the ink like a sponge, water. A speck of light glinted and pulsed, giving off a slight breeze. It pulsed, shone and grew bigger, like a balloon getting inflated with each breath. As it bloated up, the light breeze turned to wind, and the wind turned stronger like wind on a blustery day. In less than a second, the strong gust increased to that of a squall. It wasn't just the wind, there was light too. Light that intensified every pulse and every nanosecond. Soon, the whole detention room was flooded with intense, bright light and strong, mighty gusts. The eight of them shielded their eyes with arms, legs, hair and whatever else was conveniently there, although that didn't stop the dazzling light from piercing through their protective armour and kniving their eyes. Hairs of different colours, eraser dust that Poland had previously bullied, chairs, tables, bodies and even Sweden's tough and heavy bulk were blown and thrown back over the place. And then everything went black.

* * *

Japan frowned. Recalling the scene had not helped him solve any questions or problems, instead making him more frustrated and perplexed. Who said inspiration came from sitting in the toilet? _Just exactly what happened? I guess I'll go find them later… _… The bell for lunch rang, and Japan left the gents.

Japan looked down at table no.1, then panned across the cafeteria, but there was no sight of Prussia, Spain or Austria. They would all be gathered here at this table without fail, Prussia did not like to miss his lunch, and would drag his friends – which was everyone – with him even if they didn't want to.

Seeing a small frown on his face, Italy rushed over to the troubled Japan, "Hoi hoi Japan! Why are you frowning? There's still pasta on the counter."

It took Japan a while to realise Italy was waving his hands in his face. "Huh? Oh hi Italy. Did you happen to see Prussia, Spain or Austria around?"

"Ve~ Nope, I don't think they came to school toda– Ah! FRATELLO! MY PASTA! Nee nee Japan!"

With a final goodbye wave, Italy charged towards Romano, who was currently gobbling down ten plates of pasta at the same time as if it there was never going to be anymore pasta in the world.

Just then, Russia flung open the doors to the cafeteria. "Waa~ Such a nice smell… Hmm… Is that pirozhki I smell?" Russia savoured the scent for a few more moments before turning around. "Ah! Estonia, Latvia! And Lithuania! Kolkol. Come in, come in. Let us have some food." He gave off an extremely gloating aura as he added. "I'm so glad Poland's not here today; I have Lithuania all to me! Kolkolkol!"

… _That was just… Poland isn't here? That means Prussia, Spain, Austria and Poland are not around… I wonder who else is missing…_

"J'p'n!"

Turning around to the sound of the low voice, Japan saw Sweden jogging towards him. _Oh! Norway and Iceland were in the detention room too! _

"Sweden! Have you seen Norway and Iceland?" "Japan, have ya' seen N'rway or Icel'nd?" They both inquired each other at the same time.

"They're gone too?" This time, Japan asked first. Sweden nodded.

_What? That just makes this all the more confusing. Okay, so there were eight of us. Prussia, Spain, Austria, Poland, Iceland and Norway are missing, and Sweden and I are still here… … Why? That doesn't even make any sense!_

Baffled at why Japan's mouth was moving slightly before he suddenly flung his arms, Sweden–

_The book and pen… Oh right!_ In a great flurry, Japan pried open his bag and rummaged for the box.

"It's not here!" Japan exclaimed.

"Wh't's n't ther'? " Sweden watched – as did everyone else in the canteen – as the flustered Japan poured the contents out from his bag onto the floor.

"The box.. The book and the pen…"

"Th' r'm sudd'nly w'nt br'ght 'nd th're was a lot 'f w'nd… I r'm'mber th't. Wh't h'ppen'd?"

_What happened… _He couldn't even begin to understand! "I don't know!" Japan cried out, startling Sweden and everyone else. One puff, two puffs, breathe in, breath out, inhale, exhale… As he calmed himself down and collected his belongings, "Come, let's go somewhere else." … … …

Once they reached the school's rooftop and made sure no one was anywhere near to overhear them, accidentally or not, Japan explained to Sweden his thoughts on why that had happened in the detention room and after that; Prussia's recklessness had cost them.

Sweden gazed impassively at the ground. "So ya' mean, th'y're gon'?"

"I'm afraid so…"

* * *

re-uploaded 23/03/13 (:


	3. Chapter 3

**Divergence - Chapter 3**

* * *

"So wh't n'w?" Sweden asked passively. "Ve can't h've 'em disapp'r j'st l'ke th't. Peopl' w'll n'tice."

"I know…" Japan replied, exasperated. "But we can't get too many people involved. It'll throw the whole world off equilibrium."

"Huh?"

"It's not supposed to work that way – the pen and the book! People aren't supposed to stay in the other realm for more than an hour, but you can't just move on like that. And and it's strange how the six of them got sent there except us. Something must have went very wrong! Ugh!" Japan shook his head vigorously, then slapped his cheeks and composed himself. "We need to find the book and the pen."

"Wha' iz't s'ppose t' do anyw'y?"

In his haste, Japan had forgotten to explain the workings of his latest contraption to the Swede.

"Uhm, you see, by pressing a button on the pen, you can throw anyone into a realm where you can create your own world. The book is the alternate realm, and by using the pen, you can write a whole story for those who have gone into the book's realm. Of course, all this is supposed to be fun but something went wrong. It seems like we've been catapulted back in time, and what's worse is that the book and pen is missing. Anyone who has it might unwillingly put Prussia and the rest into danger!"

Japan looked frazzled and distraught, his hazelnut brown eyes was a writhing mass of panic and horror.

"W'll, I guess ve'd better f'nd 't th'm?" Sweden suggested. It wasn't like they could do anything else anyway. They had to get the group back, Finland wouldn't be happy if he knew that Sweden had let Ice and Nor out of his sight…

* * *

"Ughhh…" Prussia struggled to get up as he heaved himself upwards. _What happened?_ He wasn't quite sure; there was a flash of bright light and gusts of wind that sprung out of nowhere, then there was the dizzying blow that knocked him out. One thing's for sure, he was no longer in the detention room.

He stood up and dusted himself as he scanned the room. On sight, there was a huge wardrobe in the corner of the room. Pale with dust and rotting in places, the wardrobe threatened to creak and collapse. The handles were blackened with fungus and some exposed bits of the metal were rusted and crumbling.

A large mirror stood beside it, the metallic surface smashed, and cracks spidered out from a gaping hole in the mirror, the cracks forming a web across the intact surfaces.

The bed had collapsed and the mattress, old and dirty had lost its firmness. Sagging, the mattress was half on the metal frame of the bed, while the other half grazed the floor. Next to the bed and mattress, was a dark mass, probably a blanket of some sort.

Behind Prussia, a large window stood gaping. The window too was cracked, and glass shards littered the floor. It was nighttime and the moonlight filtered through the window. The minute glass shards glinted maliciously at him from the floor. As Prussia took in the floor, he noticed that the floor had tiny holes, as if woodworms had eaten their way through the material.

The air was dank and musty; it smelt of old sheds, dilapidated and out of use. Suddenly, there was a soft sound of sneezing. Prussia flinched.

"Oh shit," Prussia gasped as he realized the blanket mass was beginning to stir.

Taking a careful step forward and willing the floorboards not to creak (which they did inadvertently), Prussia moved stealthily to the mass. As he inched closer, Prussia bit back laughter. That blanket mass was none other than Spain.

Spain jerked upright as he realized his surroundings. Swiveling his head around, Spain panicked until he caught sight of Prussia standing over.

"Where're we?" Spain slurred, still hazy and groggy from sleep.

"I dunno." Prussia grunted in reply as he made his way to the door. He was going to try his luck at the doorknob.

* * *

"Eww! Okay, where are we? Like, this place isn't pink. It's totally gross." Poland whined as he completed another circuit of the hallway. He had woken up in the basement of a dusty cellar with wine bottles that were so old, even the date and brand had worn off the paper wrapping. Sadly, Poland thought, his companion had to be the 'high and mighty' Austria who was more sensible than Poland. Albeit he was just as picky – he couldn't handle dirt, dust and dinky conditions.

"Oh do stop whining. I've been hearing that for the past, I don't know, 30 minutes, perhaps?" Austria piped in, clearly tired from circling the first floor countless times. They had tried the second floor, but all doors had been locked. And being the finicky and weak pair they were, neither could have done much to pry the doors open.

"I can't help it, right? Like, seriously. This place is an eyesore. Where's the _pink_?"

"Oh dear Lord, do shut up Poland. Be it pink or not, we're not getting out of here if we can't pry open the front doors. And it looks so dark out there, we shan't do well lurking out there at this atrociously late hour. Pardon, but what time is it?"

Austria did have a watch, and it did say 4pm, but 4pm didn't look this dark. Or at least it was uncommon to Austria.

Poland shrugged. Right now they stood in the hallway, a staircase spiraled upwards and another staircase that led downwards to the cellar. From their rounds, Poland had realized that the house was in utterly bad condition. The kitchenware had turned grey under years of dust and the chairs creaked warningly when Poland had attempted to sit on them.

The living room was just as bad. The whole place was bare except for two sofas, torn and battered; fluff spilling out of the holes, a giant rug that had dulled, and a fireplace with charred remains in the pit.

The long corridor that followed the living room led to a dining room, where empty photo frames hung at regular intervals. The photo frames were brown where the paint had peeled off, and the remaining paint shone with a dull gold hue; the colour long past it's time.

The dining room was even more ghastly. The table had been set with platters and cups. Three candelabras stood on the table, as if waiting for the fire to bring the candles alive. Cob webs had grown on the candelabras, and overhead, a giant chandelier was swinging precariously and slowly. The plates set neatly across the table, complete with cutlery, had gathered dust like everything else in the house.

The dining room then connected to the kitchen, and that made one whole circuit.

"Let's try one more round," Austria suggested finally. "We've got enough time to burn now that we're pretty much trapped in this dump."

Poland nodded unenthusiastically. He'd keep a lookout for the key.

"This… Damn… Door… Won't… Budge!" Iceland huffed as he tugged and rattled the doorknob. Iceland and Norway had come to at the attic. The room was filthy and swarming with rats and such. It was disgusting. Really, really disgusting.

Norway flipped open several boxes. Insofar, the boxes he had opened were all empty and contained only filth and dirt. In worse cases, the boxes housed rats, and upon opening the boxes, the rats leaped out of the boxes. Norway stood by the small slanted window as he gazed out. Tree branches begged for shelter at the windows as a howling wind raged through the outside. Scrutinizing, Norway could make out acres of trees stretched out far into the distance.

Oncoming rain clouds were slowly hiding the moon, and as the moon shrouded, the whole attic was in total darkness for a minute before a crack lightning flashed through the sky.

Iceland jumped. He wasn't into this whole spooky game, he couldn't remember what happened after they were in the detention room, but he was going to kill whoever it was who had set him up for this _cheap_ game.

Resorting to his last tactic, Iceland walked several paces behind the door and steadying his breath, ran towards the door. He planned to bash the door down with sheer force, but of course that never happened. He never reached the door before the force from his feet created a hole in the creaking floorboards and momentum sent him crashing through into the floor below.

* * *

A scream had barely escaped his lips when he heard another '_oomf_' from below. Before he knew it, Iceland was falling through another floor and landed with a thud onto a solid platform.

Iceland rubbed his sore head; this wasn't the escape route he had planned. But hey, now there's an exit.

"Gerroff me…"

Iceland started. As realization sunk in and Iceland finally registered the situation, Iceland opened his mouth to apologise before there was a deafening creak and the platform gave way.

"Argghhh…" Prussia groaned from underneath Iceland.

Iceland scrambled up and looked sheepishly at Prussia. Prussia grunted as he sat up; he had unintentionally cushioned Iceland's fall, ended up landing face flat on a table, which gave way due to their mass. This wasn't exactly the best way to reunite.

An awkward silence elapsed between the two before a loud and shrill laughter erupted from the second floor. Looking up, Prussia spotted Spain doubled up in laughter with his eyes beginning to tear, and from the third floor, Norway's eyes were flung wide open in desolate horror.

"It came from that room!"

At that exact moment, Austria and Poland came barreling into the room. Both armed with various assortments of kitchen knives and clad in pans as an effort of a makeshift armor, Austria and Poland stood at the doorway of the dining room as they took in the sight.

The sight was too much for even Prussia, and Prussia exploded in a fit of laughter.

* * *

After Norway and Spain had climbed down through the various holes in the floor, all 6 of them gathered at the living room.

Poland had only just found the key to the front door, hooked with the other cooking utensils on a rack when the deafening crash had sounded in the other room.

Iceland and Prussia had been lucky enough to get away with just cuts and bruises, it wasn't all that bad considering the fall they had. Spain couldn't stop laughing whenever he recalled the scene.

"So what now?" Norway asked quietly, as he probed at his brother, ensuring that Iceland's bones were still intact.

"It's pretty dark out so I don't think now'll be a good time to go wandering out there." Spain replied.

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

"Perhaps we'll lay low for today. Then tomorrow we could try to approach the first person we see and ask them _kindly_ about our whereabouts," Austria suggested, throwing Prussia a snide glare as he mentioned the word 'kind'.

Prussia shrugged it off. "Something tells me we won't be finding anyone out there though, Prissy Boy…"

And boy was Prussia accurate.

* * *

A soft chuckling sound could be heard as the person closed the pen cap. He grinned manically; yes, his story was going fine.

The bell rang which signaled the end of break. As he emerged from the shadows, he closed the book and shoved both the book and pen into his bag. Things were just beginning to get fun…

* * *

re-uploaded 23/03/13 (:


	4. Chapter 4

**Divergence - Chapter 4**

* * *

The school's bell went off.

"… let's start by finding the whereabouts of the book and the pen. But first we have to go back to class."

Sweden nodded and they walked each other to the classroom block. They parted ways at the third story with Sweden having his cooking class and Japan proceeded down the spiral staircase to the ground level where he had his flute lessons.

As he was about to turn right, Japan spotted someone behaving suspiciously. The person stuck his head around the corner and darted his head left and right. Seeing that no one was around, he crept out and marched briskly in the opposite direction, his messenger bag bumping on his side.

_I do not reckon seeing him before… _Japan stared at him for a while, that is, until a random Chinese dashed past and stopped in front of him, blocking the person from Japan's sight.

"Hello Japan!" China greeted cheerily. "What are you doing, aru? You know you're going to be late for our music lesson right, aru?" Grabbing Japan's wrist, China pulled him roughly from the stairs and headed to their classroom.

"Ah– China!" Japan turned his head to shoot a last glance at the mysterious person but he was already gone...

* * *

"There's nothing but forest here…" stated Spain, dusting his clothes.

Now that they were out of the house, they could see that the house looked much bigger inside then outside. Including the attic Iceland and Norway found themselves, it was an average 3-story house. The house was made entirely of timber, or what was once timber. The wood had rotted and decayed, worms, bacteria, algae and fungus sucking the life out of them. It was as if the house was abandoned for several years. The roof was also made of timber. A layer of gnarled tree logs joined together formed the house's insecure roof. The only feature the house had from the outside were eight windows and the door. At each face of the cuboid house, a pair of windows hung at their hinges, severely weather-beaten and in disrepair. Moss and mould grew on the grimy panes of their glass panels – if they had glass panels – spreading their tentacle-like tendrils in all directions. The door was also in the same desolate state as everything else, though it was unexpectedly quite sturdy. The metal door knob had long since rusted away, leaving a hole where it was supposed to be. Given how brittle and unsteady the door plus its rusted hinges looked, it was a surprise how they couldn't just push the door open. Spain tried kicking it, bowling it open, but it didn't even give a budge. It took all six of them leaning and pushing their weight against it before it finally and suddenly gave way, sending them all tumbling after the door.

"So where're we going to find a person to ask?" Prussia directed at Austria, currently sandwiched between Poland and Iceland and could only return him a sneer.

"Now now. Let's just explore the forest then. We can split up into two groups – so more area will be covered – and meet back here, say, after 4 hours?" Suggested Spain.

Norway and Iceland instantly glued on to each other.

"Aw! SO CUTE. You both remind me of Italy and Romano~" Spain commented as he walked over to them. "So I guess you three are together then." He added as he waved to Prussia, Austria and Poland and headed to the forest on the right. "BYE~"

"I can't believe I'm stuck with you." Austria snorted as he stomped to the other side of the forest.

"Ja~ It's more awesome with me around." Prussia said and followed behind Austria. The two of them headed into the forest, bickering like always. As Poland trailed behind them, he gave a last look at the desolate house. He didn't know if he was imagining it or what, but the house gave off some weird, chilly aura, giving him the creeps and making him feel cold, even with the hot sun beating down on him. He wasn't one to imagine things, and if the others didn't notice anything strange, there was nothing wrong.

Hugging himself, he tore his gaze away from the house and quickly caught up with Austria and Prussia.

* * *

re-uploaded 23/03/13 (:


	5. Chapter 5

**Divergence – chapter 5**

01/06/13 :D

* * *

It was quiet. Too quiet. Austria was feeling fidgety. A frown wrinkled his features as he kicked small bushes and stones, trying to create some noise. Behind him, Poland was silently trailing behind and leading the way, Prussia was – of course – noisy as usual. His hands flew here and there as he recounted his childhood adventures in a huge forest – park actually. Even though his watch said that it had only been twenty minutes since they entered the forest, Austria felt as though Prussia had been blabbering non-stop for 10hours now; his ears were ringing irritably.

"Oy. Prussia... Oy... OY... Hey Prussia... Hello?"

If he had heard him, Prussia gave no sign as he continued his grand adventure. "... and then there was this huge tree! With big, giant, round coconuts..."

Austria fumed. Behind, Poland visibly shrank as Austria gave off a raging aura of fury. "... PRUSSIA!" If there were birds nearby, they all would have scattered already.

Prussia stopped talking, his hands in mid-air as his recount of Prussia the Awesome's adventures in the huge jungle II was halted. "Someone called the Awesome?"

_Finally! _Austria rejoiced inwardly. "Hey. Don't you think it's a little too quiet here?"

"What?! You mean you were'nt paying attention to my story? Well, it's okay I can start all over. So, there was this –"

"No! I mean isn't a forest a little quiet? The air is strangely calm and I haven't heard a cricket chirp or a bird sing and there isn't a sign of life anywhere besides plants and trees."

"Oh, how would you know? You've been in the forest before? I thought rich, wealthy nobles don't like going into dark, creepy forests." Prussia smirked at him, then quickly continued as Austria opened his mouth, probably to send some jabbing words at him. "Yeah, you're right. It's too unnatural for a forest to be this quiet."

Austria raised an eyebrow at that. So, Prussia knew all along? "What –"

"Which is why I've been trying to liven up the mood. So anyway, er, where did I stop? Oh yea that's right. The coconut was huge! Like, humongous! ..."

Austria rolled his eyes in disbelief. He should have brought some ear plugs.

* * *

"... It's a kinda quiet, don't you think?" Iceland said.

"hm, yeah... it's a little eerie here. I thought nature was supposed to be full of life! Birds warbling their songs, cicadas chirping their calls, trees and bushes dancing..." Spain grinned as he went on describing how nature was full of vibrant life. Iceland and Norway said nothing, allowing Spain to ramble on about his own fantasies of nature.

The three of them walked. And walked. And walked. Half an hour passed and there was nothing not resembling trees or plants. Another hour passed and still no sign of other life. The given four hours were almost halfway up, so they decided to backtrack and meet the other three back at the house. They walked up slopes, walked down slopes, and walked on straight though bumpy ground. Two more hours passed, Iceland, Norway and Spain's eyes were getting weary from seeing so much green, and they still haven't sighted any birds, insects or whatnot. Plus, the four hours were already up and they didn't seem to be any closer to the treeline around the house. Which also translated to: they were lost.

"I'm fairly sure we passed here when we entered the forest. See this tree?" Spain pointed at the tree on his right before pointing down. "This weed number 1 growing around it is approximately two centimetres longer than weed number 2. Also, weed number 1 is half a centimetre long than weed number 3 and three centimetres longer than weed number 4. Thus I know this is where the forest started."

Iceland had nothing to say to Spain's logic. As Spain inspected and measured the length of his weeds, Iceland chose a shady spot under a tree where the sun wasn't trying to tan his pale skin and sat down.

Meanwhile, Norway wandered a little ways from them, though not too far and still having Iceland in his line of sight, and crouched down.

There was a stone. It was roughly ten by five by twenty centimetres in dimensions. It didn't quite look like any other stone; it was rounded and smooth, like as if it had been sandpapered. The stone emanated a strong aura, pulsing with vibrant force. Norway felt awfully compelled to touch it. It was as though it was calling him, asking him to touch it, feel the magic, the force, the energy within. He reached out a hand, and after a moment of slight hesitation, Norway touched the stone. It was cold, frigid. Even colder than the coldest winter he had ever experienced. Something blue glowed from within the hand that had only so slightly grazed the cold, chill stone. Chills made their way down his spine, though he didn't know what caused it. Slowly, his head felt strangely heavy and he let it fall, seemingly unable to muster enough strength to keep it up. His eyelids were feeling extremely droopy, as if he hadn't slept for days on end. At the edges of his vision, leaves and trees were becoming fuzzy, and no matter how much he rubbed his eyes, the sleepy and dreamy feeling wouldn't go away. Oh, and his hands were glowing. He slowly opened his hands, palms facing him. On either hand, a weird speck of light glinted a soft blue at the top of his palm. Then it started tracing patterns, lines that seemed to form shapes onto his palms, every line it traced pulsing blue, cerulean like his eyes. A diamond was drawn out on his palms, and then a circle around its four points. Indecipherable patterns lined each glowing blue line, and from the fuzzy edges of his periphery, the complete and whole image looked fuzzier than wet dogs after they shook themselves dry. It pulsed once, pulsed twice, burning and imprinting its image into Norway's mind, then it disappeared into his skin as if it had never been there. He was really tired now, all his attention back to how sleepy he was. He yawned, and let his eyes shut.

Norway blinked, and he sat bolt upright. Had he fallen asleep? The day was still bright though. Craning his neck upwards, he let the sun's rays fall onto his face through the gap in the trees' canopies. It was warm, a nice warm feeling, not cold like the stone. The stone… He looked at the stone, or where it previously was. It was gone, vanished. The patch of grass there was standing high among the weeds, not flattened, should a stone be there. Could he have been imagining it? Norway then looked at his palms. There was nothing there either. Yep, he must have imagined it. A hallucination, he presumed.

Norway got up, and turned to where Spain and Iceland were. Or previously were – they were gone.


	6. Chapter 6

**Divergence – chapter 6**

01/06/13: C:

* * *

… They were gone…

Or so he thought. The uncanny silence was broken as something jumped out of nowhere and flew past Norway, but not while gripping his wrist fastly and pulling him along. Norway was forcefully dragged – apparently the person had forgotten about the existence of inertia – and took some moments to regain his footing before running beside Spain. Iceland ran on his left.

"… What are we doing?"

"We are on an adven-!"

"Take a look behind you." Came Iceland's curt reply.

Mottled with various shades of orange, as though someone had randomly splattered paint all over it, a fat, feathery round blob of a pear shape seemed to bouncing after them, had Norway not looked closer and saw those stout, scaly feet with ashen black claws underneath those undulating layers of blubber.

Norway's face blanched ever so slightly, before swiftly turning his head around like someone about to retch.

"You can see things, right? Do you know what that is? I've always thought mythical, magic beings were nice. But it almost bit my head off!" Spain laughed, an enthusiastic sparkle in his eye, oblivious to Norway's reaction (though to be fair, Norway was one who hid his emotions well). But Iceland noticed it, felt it: that faint little stir in his brother's soul.

Norway looked at the beaming Spaniard. He showed no signs of any fear one would expect of someone having faced death in the face – or a hideous looking monster for that matter. "I've only saw its picture once, in an old folklore book." He stated blandly, unwilling to reveal further.

"Aughl'iboh." Iceland supplied, though his pronunciation was rather off.

Norway eyed Iceland with distaste, while the latter gave him a blank look, an eyebrow raised. Recently, Norway suspected that his favourite book of ancient folklore tales – the same on the creature was in – had been tampered with, little traces of birdfeed crumbs left behind on several yellowed pages by tainted, itchy hands apparently belonging to a certain impish brother of his.

They continued running a while more, until a light breeze blew past them, and Norway felt the hairs on his nap tingling as soft, cold kisses in the wind brushed his pale skin, whispering a wavy tune. Meanwhile, Iceland had felt the uncanny breeze too. He froze for an instant, and let his eyelids droop, and in that same instant, everything disappeared…

* * *

"Whaaa! Like, I don't wanna get eaten up by some ugly, freakish monster even though it's dotted with, ahhh, pink... pink spots!" Poland cried as he overtook Austria.

"Ah! Poland! But it's pink! Go offer yourself up so that it'll stop chasing us!" Austria increased his speed and ran on par with Poland. "Just whose brilliant idea was it to come out of the safety of the house?!"

"It's yours!" Poland and Prussia said in unison.

"Dammit! The Awesome Me's supposed to be all heroic right now, not getting pursued by some so not Awesome and disgusting creature!"

They ran and ran deeper and deeper into the forest with Prussia in the lead, ducking under tree boughs and leaping over thorny weeds until they approached a clearing.

"Guys! Hold on to your pants and don't look down!"

"Prussia! What are you getting at?" Huffed Austria.

"I'm not France so anyways, JUMP!"

And so they did. As their feet left the ground, Prussia held on to his loose pants as he had advised them to, Poland flailed his limbs vigorously like a drowning person as he glanced down, and Austria flapped his hands like a bird as he too, took a peek below him.

"DAMN YOU, PRUSSIA!" Austria hollered at Prussia after they were safe from the revolting monster on the other side of the cliff.

"I- I- I- WANT LIET!" Poland sucked on his thumb as he gathered his numb, trembling limbs into a ball and rocked himself.

"I can't believe I just jumped over a plunging valley between two cliffs five metres away! This is too ungentlemanly!" complained Austria as he straightened his clothes and sleeked down his brown, tousled hair.

"Kesesese! You should be grateful to the Awesome Me instead! Now we're safe from the pink-spotted monster. Speaking of which, where is it?" Prussia stood up and peered into the dense foliage on the other cliff.

Rising up on his two feet, Austria sneered at Prussia's back and commented, "Why is it so dark here?"

It was indeed darker on this side of the cliff compared to the one they left with a grand jump. An eerie silence encased all three of them, sending shivers down their spines. Suddenly, the forest became even darker as thick cumulonimbus clouds barricaded the sun. Everything became silent, cold and dark: the air became eerily still and the leaves stopped rustling.

Neither one of them dared move a muscle and stayed still, even Prussia. Until a raw draught blew around them. Poland, unable to take all these any longer, exclaimed, "LIKE, I WANNA GO HOME–"

Prussia immediately clapped his hand over the Polack's mouth but it was too late; something bellowed in response to Poland's reaction and the struggling Polack froze. A wintry puff of air rustled the leaves and Austria held his breath. In a blink of an eye, there was something in front of the Austrian, something creepy, something breathing down onto him and ruffling his already unruly hair. Quivering with utmost fear, Austria slowly looked up the creature to meet its gaze.

"RUN!"


	7. Chapter 7

**Divergence – chapter 7**

11June'13 :D

* * *

"Eh~" Spain sighed and swiped the beads of perspiration forming on his forehead. "I didn't know you could do magic, Norway."

Norway didn't grace Spain with a reply, instead ignoring him and staring down at his palms. So he wasn't dreaming the last time, it happened, it was real. But it felt too strange and surreal, like he was in a dream. He didn't exactly know what happened, how his hands suddenly glowed after that weird tune and when he brought his hands up, the glowing blue mark had reappeared. Then, his lips started moving on its own accord and whispered words, incomprehensible words he couldn't make out, words that gave him an all too unnatural feeling, like he was out of his body. And he did feel like he wasn't in his own body anymore, and it came all too natural when he felt his body move on its own. He – or probably not – shot a foot out and halted himself, then pushed on it, pivoted in one fluid motion, and threw out his hands at the creature. Well, his hands didn't fly out but two cerulean orbs did. Wisps floated in and out of the orbs, and he could sense an energy emanating from the orbs, dissipating via the trails of blue wisps. As the orbs left his palms, he also felt his energy and strength drain a little. He presumed the energy pulsing from the orbs were from him then. All these were ultimately strange.

Feeling a tad awkward at the inexplicable silence of the forest and a lack of response, Spain said the first thing that came to his mind, anything as long as to break the silence. "Ah! What a beautiful sunny day! Ah haha... ..." Norway didn't move, still in his inner musings. Spain tried again, "Ah, seems like we got lost while running away from some weird monster – I can't quite remember which direction we ran in. Agh- Ougk- (ahh, forget it) Weird creature, eh?" Spain prodded said creature with his foot. His foot sunk into the blob of a body easily, meeting little resistance. Spain stared at it, and disgusted, quickly pulled his foot out and backed up from the disgusting abomination.

Norway, on the other hand, slowly approached the Aughl'iboh, tightly gripping a long tree branch desperately as his heart whirled around in an empty chest. _Tha- that... It… Did it... Did I really saw that? Was that real? Has it… really come true?_

Norway stood just inches away from the Aughl'iboh's body, calming himself down discreetly, he slowly squatted, and with as much courage he could muster, took a deep breath and pushed the breathless body with the branch. _No… nothing…? _The body lay on its back, and Norway looked at it with mild surprise. He was absolutely sure now that he had saw it, that _thing…_

Spain looked around while Norway inspected the creature, finding nothing fascinating to the eye except for some trees, plants and undergrowth – plus a dead creature. "Huh? Where's Iceland?"

Norway's eyes shot up immediately. He gazed around the lush forest; there was indeed no sign of Iceland anywhere. He walked over the lifeless creature, pausing briefly for a moment before dropping the tree branch nonchalantly, and headed to where they had come from.

"Hey Norway wait!" Spain shouted as he followed after Norway.

* * *

"What the hell is that?" a husky voice breathed.

Prussia turned to his right to see Iceland running beside him, "Iceland?! Weren't you with Norway and Spain?"

"I got lost." Iceland replied curtly.

Prussia bit his cheek and tried to suppress a laughter in his throat, else he would fall back and get eaten up by the hideous creature after them.

It was another cretin similar yet different to the previous orange Aughl'iboh. Pear-shaped still – albeit more rooster than pear – three feather-like curls bounced on its small head, and this one had a small beak. Its choice of colour was horrible, making Iceland's eyes see pink leaves and trees instead of green: it was dotted with perfectly round spots of Poland's favourite shade of strawberry pink, and striped with alternating colours of fuchsia and lavender. This creature also had more obvious legs than the other, though it resembled a typical rotund middle-aged man trying hard to do better than walking, each step it took created a mini-scale tremor.

"Prussia! Can you please pay attention to where you're running? I don't want to jump over another cliff!" Austria shouted from behind Prussia. "And nice to see you, Iceland."

Prussia scoffed.

"Like, what's that blue light over there?" Poland commented for the first time after his previous outburst that led to them being on the run again.

True enough, there was a strange blue light illuminating the trees in front of them. As they got closer, they saw a Norway with a blue wavy orb above this palm, his dull eyes staring straight into the creature's soul behind them.

They almost missed Norway's inaudible command for them to duck when a sapphire ball was hurled right at them. Austria and Poland swerved to the left, Iceland jumped to the right, while Prussia stared hopelessly as he ran straight towards the incoming orb.

Lucky for him, Prussia tripped over his own foot in his frenzy and he fell flat on his Awesome face – albeit better than getting hit by a strange ball of blue shadows. Upon contact with the ugly monster's ugly face if it had one, a blast of wind erupted from behind him.


	8. Chapter 8

**Divergence – chapter 8**

Re-uploaded the edited version! :D 18June'13. If one has forgotten about Japan running from China like I have, please refer to chapter 4. Note to self: the other team in the real world needs more screen time.

* * *

Japan squeezed past the thronging crowd as he tried to run from China. Talk about bad timing. China had begged Japan to follow him to the near-by herbal store so he could come up with another concoction of Chinese tea. Of course Japan wasn't very keen; he needed to find the book and pen! And he was supposed to meet Sweden. Plus, China's herbal potions (which China claimed would give you stronger immune system because he "mixed all the nutritional herbs into one") had caused various students to fall ill, including the staunch Switzerland.

Japan shuffled pass, keeping his head low, hoping and praying that China would not find him in this crowded hallway. Suddenly a loud, "JAPAN! JAPAN WHERE DID YOU GO?" could be heard and Japan broke into a run as he escaped China's wrath.

It wasn't good news, no. The gang of 6 had disappeared for over a day, and like Japan said, people weren't supposed to stay there for more than an hour. He didn't know how to cover for the missing six, because slowly, people had begun to notice their disappearance. People like Lithuania had questioned for the well-being of Poland, France who had returned flu-free had been curious to the whereabouts of his buddies because he certainly hadn't heard from them. No one in particular had been looking for Austria (there had been a rift between Hungary and Austria) and Denmark and Finland had noticed the two solemn brothers gone as well.

This was bad. Japan knew all too well what would happen if they disappeared for too long. People would begin to forget them, and it would be as if the six had never existed at all.

Swerving the corridor, Japan ran head first into a solid being.

"Jap'n?" Sweden said, startled.

"Quick, the other way. China is looking for me and he won't let me go so soon. We must discuss the book." With that, Japan grabbed Sweden's wrist and pulled him down another corridor to the school courtyard.

They sat in the garden with Sweden staring intently at Japan.

"We should start searching the grounds. It might have disappeared into the school staff's room. We should check places with lots of books. Like the library. Or… How about the school press room?" Japan gabbled.

"Wh't if someone's tak'n it alr'dy? Or if someone thr'w it out."

Japan made a sort of gasping sound as the idea struck him as possible.

"M-My handiwork!" Japan choked out before he fainted in disbelief and horror.

* * *

Leaves crunched nearby, signalling the return of Norway, Iceland and Poland, carrying as many clumps of dried twigs, leaves, branches – anything that could be used as tinder – as much as their arms could hold. Setting their individual collections on the ground and sitting down in front of the others, the three of them looked on as if seeing through the others, blank faces belying the confusing tornado of thoughts in their minds as they recalled their previous respective experiences. Poland rubbed his shoulders as he remembered the cold, eerie feeling nagging at the back of his mind ever since they left the ancient tumbledown house; Iceland wondered about the mysterious, prickling wind from before; while Norway was hit from two sides by the whispering sounds plus the strange energy flowing through his veins.

"C'mon.. c'mon…" Prussia muttered to no one in particular as he rubbed two short branches together, trying to generate enough friction to produce a fire. Spain's face held a serious look – a vast contrast from his always cheery face – as he concentrated all his will and energy into sparking a fire, grinding the two small logs in his hands at a speed too fast for Prussia's clumsy hands to handle. Fiddling with a twig, Austria sighed. This two days were the weirdest days of his life. And it all started from being called into detention due to a certain annoyance right beside him. Then Japan had burst into the room seemingly without permission – well technically not one in the right mind (cough, excluding Prussia, cough) would even willingly volunteer to waste his life in that boring room, permission granted or not – a box made of high quality mahogany and polished till it could have shone rainbows in his hands, which contained an exquisite pen comparable to a Mint Blonc* branded one and a hand-binded book of truly meticulous skills and craftsmanship. And before anyone could react, that reckless idiot had corrupted the excellent beauty of Japan's contraption with his coarse hands, and it was that crass idiot who started this whole mess, what with creating the weird wind, blinding light and all. Austria sighed again, oh how many times had he done that in just two days?

"Yeah!" Spain exclaimed, his eyes lit up and reflecting the small, excited flame in one of his logs.

Prussia stared in disbelief. "How did you do that?!" More than half the twigs he held lay as splinters in his lap, yet to no avail.

Spain clapped a hand to his chest, the other arm patting Prussia's back. "Ha ha ha! That's part of _my_ Awesomeness, my dear friend!"

"Hahahahahaa…!" Prussia mimicked Spain's gesture and laughed with him, with no worries in the world. _It's no wonder why they're friends; idiots think alike,_ Austria thought, shaking his head.

* * *

Once they got the fire going steady, they huddled around it, seeking its natural warmth unlike all other strange and unnatural things happening ever since they entered this uncanny world. The six of them stayed quiet for a while, comfortable with the peace and silence that had settled upon them.

Norway's cerulean eyes reflected the crackling fire as it ate the dried twigs and leaves until his peripheral vision saw Prussia admiring at him. He pulled his legs up closer, trying to ignore the gaze that intruded upon his privacy, thinking that the man was just staring at the trees behind him.

"… What?" Norway stated, his tone sharper than intended, after a few seconds of self-consciousness.

"U-uh, ah, I was thinking. That was so Awesome, Norway! Though not as Awesome as Awesome Me of course!"

Norway's eyebrow raised a millimetre.

His eyes all sparkly with enthusiasm, Prussia explained, "That time when you shot a weird blue thing or something! Whoo! What was that? It was so darn cool!"

"Oh yes, I agree. Falling flat on your face was a totally awesome sight to behold." Austria reminded.

The Spaniard laughed – as he always do – until a low grumble erupted from within him. "Ugh…" His smiling eyes drooped. "I miss my lovely, cherry-red tomatoes…"

It was then that everybody remembered they hadn't ate the last two days.

"Like… Like…like…" Poland's voice tapered off as hunger made him forget what he wanted to say.

They shared a gloomy atmosphere until something stirred beside Norway and Poland.

"Goodnight." Iceland stated simply.

"Well… I'm tired too…" Spain yawned. "We can search for food tomorrow… Oh, and don't forget the adventure-telling time…zzz…" A bubble popped. "Aand we need someone to keep watch." Spain nodded off.

* * *

The fire cackled as Prussia prodded the fire with a long stick he had found deep in a pile of dead muddy leaves nearby. It was slightly damp so the fire wouldn't catch it quickly.

Prussia was up doing the first hour – following Austria's exquisite branded watch (Don't you dare damage it!) – of the night watch; since he had too much to think about and could not sleep just yet, he volunteered to go first. The next shift would be Poland's, the two brothers, then Austria, and lastly Spain. By now they all had dozed off, letting sleep take them into its arms and take the edge of their hunger and tired bodies.

This was, by far, the second day in this strange world for them and Prussia didn't like it one bit. He frowned. Exactly how had they even landed into this strange world? A month ago, give or take, he had happened to hear Japan mumbling to himself about 'books as portals' and 'worlds' and 'that'll be so awesome!' and being Prussia, that last phrase had piqued his interest, which eventually led to him nosing his way into Japan's business. Initially Japan was hesitant, but told him his secret soon enough. As crazy and nonsensical as it sounded, Japan had convinced Prussia that there was such magic that could allow one to enter other worlds rumoured to exist; they just had to find or else create a unique book and a pen that could act as a mediator. Always one up for adventure and mysteries, Prussia was quickly into it and told Japan that he would help in any way he could. But… It wasn't supposed to be like this! Trying hard to remember Japan's words, he figured something must have gone wrong for all this to happen.

Poland stirred, crunching his makeshift pillow of leaves. His face was slightly scrunched up in discomfort, well, it wasn't as though the others were comfortable themselves, maybe except for Spain, seeing that he had splayed his body out and was in a peaceful and carefree dreamland. Though Prussia was pretty sure that the old tumbledown house would have been a better place to sleep in, he wasn't quite sure how to get there again, he thought that his only way out was probably through the gorge. It was a pretty miraculous jump Prussia had to admit. He didn't know how Spain and the other two managed to meet up with them, but Prussia was pretty sure they ran a long way since leaving that house.

Maybe we'll have better luck tomorrow, Prussia thought inwardly as he pushed some leaves to the dying ambers. The flames danced outwards towards the sky, almost as if they longed to touch the stars.


	9. Chapter 9

**Divergence – chapter 9**

On with the story! 19June'13

* * *

An odd, awful stench wafted into his nose, tickling it. Japan squinched up his face and waved his hands in front of him. "Hn! What's that disgusting smell?!"

The foul odour subsided as Japan came into consciousness. Slowly, he opened his eyes to see a Chinese glaring at him, offended. "Hey! Is this how you repay your saviour, aru?!"

As Japan sat up, he spotted China placing a teapot on the bench. "Oh I'm terribly sorry, China."

"You'd better be, aru. This was the omnipotent herbal concoction I was telling you about, aru. And then you just ran out on me, aru!"

"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!" Still a tad groggy, Japan tried to stand up and apologise at the same time, but he was quite aware that he had _inhaled some of that disgusting stuff China calls 'medicine'_. He masked his inner disgust with a blank look and steadying his voice, he asked, "What happened?"

"Ya pass out." Started Sweden, but he looked at China then to Japan, saying no more – though it was not needed as Japan remembered and understood.

"I'm really grateful, China. But Sweden and I have to go." Before China could react, Japan grabbed his school bag and swiftly left the garden with Sweden just behind.

As if he had drunk the potent potion he concocted, China brought his clenched fists to his chest and mustered all the anger he ever experienced. An animated flame erupted from under his feet and engulfed him. Hurriedly gathering all his items, he dashed after Japan and Sweden. "JAPAN! SWEDEN! YOU SHALL NOT ESCAPE THE WRATH OF CHINA, ARU!"

* * *

All eyes were on Sweden and Japan as they raced down the stairs. With just a cold, icy gaze from Sweden, students climbing up and down the stairs immediately parted and swerved to the sides, paving a pathway for them. They watched as the duo took three steps at a time, obviously in a desperate hurry, trying to shake off the mad Chinese man hot on their tails.

"WAIT! STOP, ARU!" China cried.

Taking a quick look behind him to gauge how far China was from catching up with them, Japan shrieked. "EEP! Sweden, Sweden! We can't keep running away. We'll have to find somewhere to hide!"

Sweden nodded. "How 'bout th' libr'y? Th'y won't l't China who's scr'ming 'is head off in."

"–STOP, ARU! YOU CAN KEEP RUNNING BUT YOU WON'T ESCAPE FROM MY ANGER, ARU! YAAAAAH!" China boosted and left a trail of smoke and fire behind him.

Sweden and Japan touched down on the first floor and rounded the left corner to the library. A cloth of bottle green flashed as they collided into a solid figure with a dull thud and tumbled down altogether.

"WHAT – " began Switzerland, until he realised what – or who – had rammed into him. "Japan? Sweden?"

Getting into a defensive stance, Sweden readied himself to battle – Switzerland was oddly clad in an army uniform and had a shotgun slung over his shoulder while in a _school_.

"Wha– Who– Why– Wha–" Japan stuttered, both startled and puzzled at the sight of Switzerland and Sweden, though mostly Switzerland. He didn't have enough time to piece together his thoughts as China's war cries grew louder, reminding him that an enraged and furious Chinese was still on the loose.

Upon hearing the all so familiar Chinese accent, Switzerland stiffened and drew his eyebrows together, frowning. He took his shotgun and weighed it in his hands. "China's after you?" Cradling the dangerous weapon into position, he marched forwards past Sweden and shot him a brief glimpse. "Go. I've got scores to settle with him."

Not quite sure what he meant but thinking that at least he could buy them some time, Sweden eased, glanced towards Switzerland and nodded thanks. "Le' go, J'pan." Hustling Japan away, Sweden started into a jog before they both ran at top speed to the library.

* * *

_Go left round the corner, _instructed China's inner voice. Gritting his teeth, his eyes blazed with fury even further. _Grrr… What's Japan hiding from me, aru? Always being all sneaky here and there with Sweden, aru. And how dare he look down on my tea, ARU! My herbal brew is the best, aru! I even cured a certain, sturdy Switz–_

There's a Chinese saying that goes: shuo dao cao cao, cao cao jiu dao. Or in English, speak of the devil. Loud, ear-splitting gunshots echoed throughout the enclosed stairway as several bullets whizzed dangerously past China's ears, far too close for comfort. This induced a great panic and chaos erupted as the tramping of shoes and the buzzing of chatters turned to mortified screams and a stampede. China hadn't even had time to register what was going on when more bullets came his way, aiming specifically at him. Luckily for him, his daily kungfu training resulted in him reflexively dodging those treacherous bullets. The firing stopped and allowed him to catch his breath, and also to see who was behind all this.

Narrowing his eyes, he murmured. "Switzerland." Time seemed to pause as a wild leaf flew by while both China and Switzerland gazed menacingly into each other's eyes, oblivious to the pandemonium around them.

_ARU! _China cursed inside his head, despite what his calm poise suggested. _ARU! My wok isn't with me, aru. If not I could bash this guy's head in already and be chasing after Japan and Sweden, aru._

Lady Luck seemed to be on China's side today. A casual Hungary ambled past Switzerland and up the stairs, ears plugged into her music player and going on her own way like nobody's business. The leaf drifted down to the floor and at the instant it landed, China conjured up a frying pan from Hungary's bag pack and swiftly charged at the Swiss, no time wasted.

"HEY! CHINA!"

Said person paid no heed to her and a brawl took place between China and Switzerland at the foot of the school's spiral stairs.

* * *

"What was that?!" Japan wheezed out as he glanced in the direction of the spiral staircase.

"Ne' mind th't. We can sl'w d'wn n'w." True to his words, Sweden eased into a slow walk and took a shady spot under a tree.

Japan followed and leaned heavily against the tree bark, taking in deep breaths. They had been running all over the school for the past hour, trying to get away from China. The run was probably the most exercise Japan had ever taken for a long time.

Finally gaining his normal breathing pace back, Japan mumbled worriedly. "The gunshots have died down. I hope China and Switzerland are alright."

Sweden gave a small nod of assurance. "Th' libr'y th'n. Get th' book 'n th' pen."

"… Right." The recent events have really made Japan forgot about what they were supposed to do. "The book and the pen. Let's go. We have to get them back." _Before it's too late…_

* * *

..Aaand day 2 will come to a closure sooooooon :D well, that took quite a few chapters. I've edited story such that it's not that low of a standard as before with all the flaws and loopholes and whatnot. The timeline/chronological order has been altered too so that it flows more smoothly. Thanks for reading this substandard story TT_TT;


	10. Chapter 10

**Divergence – chapter 10**

26June: C: quite a few foreshadowing here and there, can you find them all? O:

* * *

"… So how does th' b'k looks l'ke?" Sweden asked as they reached the library doors.

Pushing the door open, Japan replied, "It's leather bound. Midnight blue. I don't think any books in the library are leather bound; so just look out for any book spine that's made of leather and doesn't have any letters or markings inscribed on it."

Sweden nodded. They split up and went to each far end of the library, this way they could cover more area and save some time.

Sweden grunted. Sweden didn't quite understood how the book worked, despite Japan's long explanation. But he knew people shouldn't be in the other dimension for more than an hour, as Japan had said. He hadn't mentioned what would happen if they did otherwise, and he hoped Iceland and Norway were doing well. Oh, and not to forget the others…

_I hope they're okay… _Japan thought worriedly as he scanned the rows and rows of books piled up neatly on the shelves. _It's been way more than one hour, two days and counting. Oh Prussia, why didn't you listen to me! You've not only gotten yourselves, but other people into this mess you created. Waaah! My book and my pen! Please be safe. I'm coming to get you!_

* * *

As Japan finished the last of the books on this side of the shelf, he heard some soft and quick pen-on-paper sounds from behind him. The pen was rather smooth, meeting no friction on the surface it was used on, just like his own self-made pens. The paper made crisp flaps, before the scribbling started again. It reminded him of the book, where the paper was of high quality, being from trees grown on mountain highlands.

Japan gasped. For a moment he thought it might be his book and pen, but he quickly dismissed the idea. He was probably just too worried and paranoid. But… it wouldn't hurt to take a quick check, would it? Slowly, he rotated his head.

The oblong table for six was occupied by only one person. He sat at the corner furthest from Japan and closest to the wall, and had his hood over his head that shadowed his eyes, making it hard for Japan to discern who it was, yet there was a niggling feeling at the back of his head telling him that he knew the person.

No doubt the scribbling and flapping of paper came from him. The person was writing madly on the paper, inspiration seeming to flow into him as he scribbled on endlessly. Japan thought his eyes were playing tricks on him when he thought he saw a sadistic smirk on the person's face, as though he was satisfied with whatever cruel thing he was writing.

When Japan turned away to go over to the other side of the shelf, the pen reflected light into his eyes. He froze. That was no ordinary pen the person was using. Nowadays everyone was using pens with a plastic covering. This… the pen was definitely made of metal, being able to reflect light like that. Metal. His nib pen was made from metal casing too. _Could it be...?_

The bell rang, signalling the end of the curriculum for senior students. The paper flapped again, this time louder and with a solid thud, and chairs scraped against the floor. As Japan whirled around to clarify his doubts, he only met empty seats. The person had left, really swiftly too. Students passed by Japan as they came over to take the empty table. He spun around in the direction of the library doors. _There!_

If this was an action movie and Japan was a ninja, he would have leapt over chairs and tables, run on people's shoulders and be at the doors in a jiffy. But sadly he was not. Besides, there were too many students rushing into the library, coming from the nearest classrooms. Hustling and jostling past them, he finally made it to the library's doors. But of course, the person was already gone.

* * *

Japan sighed in despair. Perhaps his senses were playing tricks on him. Perhaps it was just his paranoia. But there was still a slight chance that that person might really have the book and the pen in his hands. Plus, he really seemed awfully familiar. Japan had had a glimpse of his silhouette as the person left, and he _knew_ he had seen that back before.

Japan sighed again. Feeling mentally drained, he unceremoniously slumped down on the nearest empty seat, earning several startled looks from the students occupying the table.

* * *

His mouth formed a small 'O' as something caught Sweden's attention. 'The World of the Fae with Feather Wings' read the title. It seemed like a book Norway would read. Curiosity tugged at his fingers and he let it guide them towards the book. The brown cover had wavy golden curls that swirled gracefully at the edges of the book. There were unique shapes imprinted into the cover, with sprinkles of glitter around it. He found it odd that there wasn't any name of the author on the cover. He flipped past the first few pages, finding it all blank, no title, acknowledgement, or the author's name anywhere. Sweden shrugged, and continued flipping the weird blank pages until the title came out on a page in swirly letters. Flipping to the next page, he read, getting absorbed into the book the moment he set his eyes on the first inky word.

* * *

Japan had laid his head on his crossed arms for a while now, watching amusedly as a cool wave from the air-conditioner overhead sweep the little hairs on his arm. He twirled his raven black hair as he had always saw Poland does with his own blonde strands, wondering why it felt oddly fun in a way. It was a pity his hair was short though; his hair wouldn't go more than twice round his fingers. Maybe he should let it grow long like Poland's shoulder length hair... He wondered how he would look…

_JAPAN! What are you musing on and on about?! Exactly that are you doing?! _Furiously shaking his head, Japan bolted up ramrod straight. He grinded his teeth and facepalmed himself, _what's wrong with me? _If he didn't had everyone looking at him, he'd have punched himself. _No time to waste! _Biting hard on his lower lip, he turned and headed in a direction where he guessed Sweden would be.

He did not have to venture far as said person emerged from between two bookshelves, face blocked by a brown book. Sweden walked obliviously past Japan and sat down at the seat closest to the shelves.

Slowly, Japan turned his head towards Sweden, and stared at him for a while.

"Sweden?! What are you doing?" Japan tried to contain his agitation through gnashed teeth.

Sweden slowly craned his head to nod at Japan, acknowledging him, then turned back to the book, as though he had not seen a flushed Japanese staring at him questioningly.

"Sweden..!" Japan exclaimed in hushed tones. Well, he was guilty of sweeping the problem at hand under the carpet himself just moments ago, so he couldn't blame Sweden if he had lost some of his senses being worried about Iceland and Norway. "I deeply apologise if I'm a little naggy here, but we're kinda in a rush for time…!"

Sweden turned his head again, then stared seemingly through Japan, mind wondering far away. Japan arched an eyebrow and waved his hands, but he did not seem to see anything.

"Ah." Sweden suddenly said.

Japan's eyebrow disappeared into his bangs.

"Oh. Hi J'p'n."

Japan stared bug-eyed at him.

"J'p'n? Wh't's wr'ng?"

He rubbed his eyes. _Strange… I must be seeing things. _"… Uh… Nothing…"

The awkward silence and awkward staring was interrupted timely by a phone's buzzing vibration.

Fumbling with his pocket for a while, Sweden finally got his vibrating phone out and answered the call. "Hm, h'llo?" He listened to the other line for a while before getting up and giving a nod to Japan. "I g'tta go. F'nn's look'ng fer m'."

"Oh um, ok… sure…" Japan replied, not knowing what to say.

"D'n't w'rry, we'll f'nd 'e b''k 'n 'e p'n, 'n g't 'em b'ck. (Don't worry, we'll find the book and the pen, and get them back)." Sweden patted on Japan's shoulder to assure him, and headed towards the doors.

Japan stared after his back, not knowing what to do anymore, feeling utterly lost.

Sweden walked past the library's doors, no one – not even he – aware that he had taken a library book with him.

* * *

Calling for some reviews since the rebirth of this fic! O:


	11. Chapter 11

**Divergence – chapter 11**

call this a bonus chapter if you want :D still haven't decided whether they're going to be in the story proper or not.

warning: foul language ahead ! x:

* * *

Two pairs of blue orbs stared into a pair of dull, blue irises. Elbows on the table, Denmark clasped his hands together, staring doubtfully at Sweden as though he was a policeman currently interrogating a crime suspect. Beside him, Finland fidgeted restlessly, tears threatening to fall from his sensitive tear ducts.

"What do you mean you don't know?! They can't possibly have disappeared into thin air just like that!"

Sweden sighed, earning a raised eyebrow from Denmark. Sweden rarely ever sighed, with his stoic demeanour, he seldom – if never – displayed his emotions on his face, much like the unreadable face of Norway.

Sweden decided to give in, spill the truth to the two of them, he was worried too. Even though Japan had repeatedly warned him to not say anything to anyone else (what with all the throwing the world off its equilibrium and such which Sweden completely did not understand), well, Denmark and Finland were his brothers, they were counted as insiders right? Besides, they were most directly affected – outside their circle of eight – by the sudden disappearing act Prussia had pulled all of them into. Perhaps involving more people would speed up the whole process of finding the book and the pen and rescuing the group in the alternate universe. _hm… Since when did I ever think so much?... _Sweden mused inwardly, a tad addled by his behaviour.

And so, he resigned to his fate. Sweden recounted his experience from when Japan burst into the detention room onwards, and then to the weird occurrences caused by the book which was caused by Prussia, and lastly finding himself in his history class again.

When he finished, Denmark and Finland was staring at him in disbelief, confounded by his story. They had glanced at each other while he recalled his experiences, but did not interrupt.

"hm.. L''k, I kn'w tis sounds h'rd t' b'l've b't it's tru–"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAAA…" Denmark suddenly exploded into laughter.

"Sweden! Wha–" Finland started at the same time the person beside him cracked up.

"Ahahahaha…" Denmark clutched at his sides, trying to stop laughing before his diaphragm decided to retaliate from the sudden outburst, flicking a tear from his eye. "Oh I never knew you could pull off such a story, Sweden. Seriously, maybe you should –"

"Denmark! This isn't funny!" Finland pouted, his cheeks reddening. Turning to Sweden, his upset expression turned into concern, and he raised a hand to his forehead. "Are you alright Sweden?"

"Hm." Sweden nodded, swatting Finland's hand away.

Slamming his hands down on the table, Finland huffed, "No! You are not alright! Yes, we left you with Norway and Iceland because we had lessons and you were the only one who was free then, but I'm pretty sure- no I'm ABSOLUTELY sure that we left you three in the library!"

"… Huh? Th'y were in 'e d't'ntion r''m."

"No they were not! What did they do that would have earned them a detention smacked in their faces, huh?! They never ever got into detention before!"

"No, they–"

Shoving an opened palm into Sweden's slightly flustered face, Finland intoned. "STOP, Sweden. Why are you suddenly spouting nonsense like this?! We need to get you to a hospital NOW."

"F'nn!" Finland shrunk visibly, startled, while Denmark ceased his laughter abruptly. They hesitantly gazed up at Sweden; he was standing now, towering over them both with his ten-metre wall height. Sweden stated simply, "I'm n't lying.", and left the table.

"W-what was that about…?" Denmark muttered, watching the tall man stiffly walk away.

Finland didn't respond, he too, was absolutely shocked by the way Sweden reacted, he had never lost his stone-like demeanour.

* * *

Target: sighted.

A mature-looking teen with a black nylon bag slung over his toned shoulder lounged idly around the school's lockers. He ran a hand over his golden locks, exuding an air of manly romance and beauty. Straightening invisible creases on his violet shirt, he began his assault.

He slowly waltzed towards a group of girls who were giggling to themselves while stealing shy glances at him. He could not help but give a small smirk. _Too easy, _he thought. They were probably first years, having not seen their still childish faces and lean figures still far from puberty.

The girls giggled even more as he neared them. He gave them a wink, causing several of them to swoon and faint in pure bliss.

Walking past them, he sighed, dropping the flirty side of him. Sticking his lower lip slightly out, he twirled his wavy golden hair. _Oh, how I sorely miss the company of the two idiots with me!~ How could they just abandon me like this? Leaving nothing but an empty hole in my heart!_ Clutching his heart in an all too theatrical drama, he gave a soft whimper.

He could still hear the girlish squeals behind him, but he ignored it. _Even cute and adorable girls cannot bring joy to my flirty self! Oh why have you –_

"Arrgggh… I swear I'm gonna kill you if I ever see your moley face again!"

Curious, France paused his inner drama and peeked through the shut windows of a club room. _Oh, it's that moody Hungarian cutie. Hmm..? What's she doing?_

Strips of coloured papers, frilly ribbons, shreds of thread, scissors, bottles of glue, pencils and other artsy-crafty things were strewn all over the upturned tables and chairs and the already massive floor. Through the small slit and the darkness enshrouding the room, he could only make out the back of Hungary. Her arms flew here and there, making him more curious as to what she was doing.

"Grrr… if China had not stolen my favourite frying pan, you would have been an atom-breadth pancake by now!" Hungary continued to strangle and poke and twist and turn and spear and throw darts and punch and kick at the doll she was holding. The handmade doll had a withered purple strand swaying in front of a small brown bead sewn crudely under the black button of an eye. Its other eye had come off, as did its cotton insides, having been brutally ripped and beaten up and maimed by an insanely furious Hungary.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Oh my, a lady should not be showing off her fierce and so not gentle side, alone or not." Crossing his arms, France shook his head disapprovingly. He took a furtive step back when Hungary glared daggers at him, her eyes burning with fury and her teeth dangerously shark-like.

"WHAT–" Hungary snarled, before realising her actions and switching to the other sweet side of her, she struggled to smile, several angry throbbing veins still obvious on her forehead. Smoothing her wrinkled clothes, she clasped her hands in front of her in an all-docile-like posture and asked sweetly, "Yes, France? How may I help you?"

"Tsk tsk. I would have wooed you if you did not have that previous kind of a personality. A-a-anyway," France quickly continued, before Hungary decided to switch back to that *_shivers*_ extremely fierce and not at all feminine side. "What's with the Austria-look-a-like doll there? Are you dabbling in some voodoo dark magic?"

With a certain name mentioned, Hungary's eyes blazed back into fury, face contorted with rage. "THAT." She spat. "THAT INCORRIGIBLE, HELLUVA IDIOTICMORONICPRISSYASSSHAT–"

"Whoa whoa, hold on there. Did you just–"

"WHAT." She glared at France. A bead of sweat slid down his face as he faced his palms out, "G-G-Go on…"

"THAT INCORRIGIBLEHELLUVAIDIOTICMORONICPRISSYASSHATISHST UPIDARISTOCRATICIDIOTBASTARD FREAKING ABANDONED ME! AFTER ALL I DID FOR HIM. HE… HE… HE JUST FRIGGIN' D-D-DUMPED ME RIGHT THERE AND THEN. LIKE WHAT DA F-"

France ran away.

* * *

And bumped into Lithuania. There was a look of abject terror on his face, which seemed like it would be permanently etched into his features if he did not quickly run away from the… the... sight of _this_.

"Ah! Hello Lithuania! Let's have a chat somewhere else!" France picked himself up and tried to drag the poor guy away.

"W… What the PinkPoLandOfPinkFluffyUnicorns just happened here?!"

"Ah, plenty of time to explain once we escape this place!" France puffed. Was it him or was Lithuania suddenly very heavy? Either way, they had to get the ('scuse the language) _hell_ out of here! "Pick your lovely, firm ass up and run before the insane Hungarian comes after you instead!"

But it was too late. The fierce predator of a lion-tiger-cheetah-jaguar-hyena-Hungary turned her head towards the commotion and set her eyes – or more like fiery, flaming hazelnut holes of an abyss – on them. She stomped towards them in just a few steps (how did she cross five metres so quickly?), appearing before them in a blink of an eye. Grabbing both France's and Lithuania's collars, she pulled their horrified faces closer and hissed menacingly, "_If you ever see Austria, call me_." Dropping the both of them just as fast, she spun on her heels and proceeded with the mutilation of the Austria-doll.

As soon as they thought the worst was over, a dark, sinister aura clouded them from behind, sending little beetles scuttling down their backs.

"Kolkolkol… So there you are, _Lithuania…_" A thick accented voice seductively cooed.

They turned their heads slowly, like old rusty doors creaking open, meeting the evil gaze of Russia staring down at them – or more like at Lithuania.

"Gyahhhhhhhhhh!"

* * *

yay for two chapters at once!


	12. Chapter 12

**Divergence – chapter 12**

this one's pretty much intact from before.

beware the shortness x:

day 3 !~

* * *

When light broke through the thick canopy signifying the start of a day, Spain was already up and running, completely energized. He was strangely excited.

"Oh what are you so happy about?" Austria had sniffed in disdain.

"Well, don't you think this is just so exciting?" Spain had chirped in response.

They were all gathered around the little charred remains of last night's miniature bonfire when Austria suggested that they burn more bits of wood to get the attention of any aeroplane flying overhead, or if there was a village out beyond the forest, there probably will be people who would help upon seeing the smoke.

Prussia had trodden on Austria's faint wisp of hope by dampening it with buckets of snide remarks. "Hey Prissy Boy, it's time we stop thinking that there are people around here. I mean, monsters? A rundown house in the middle of nowhere? That just does not happen if there are people around here. We live in the 21st century you know."

"It doesn't feel like it though," Norway muttered darkly, as if he had foreseen something dark and murky.

"Like, don't scare me like that!" Poland wailed. He did not have the guts to be tough, especially not at a time like this. Twirling his greasing strawberry blond hair around his finger, Poland frowned. He wanted to take a shower, have some chocolate chips, dye the ponies in his stables pink and then go to bed.

"What did you find on your side of the forest?" Iceland inquired quietly; his white hair was clumped with stray leaves and twig bits from over night. But then, everyone probably looked the same so no one said anything.

Prussia launched into an overly exaggerated version of their escapade; how they ran into the pink creepy monster and how they had to leap over the huge gorge before they had so coincidentally met up.

"I swear we were going straight…" Prussia trailed off, confused about the events that had occurred.

"We were going straight too," Spain said, equally confused. He can't remember ever making a U-turn to go Prussia's way, only to return to the house, and they didn't leap over any gorge…

"We're, like, going in circuits. Again!" Poland whined.

Right then and there, everyone knew Poland was right. Nothing else could explain the curious loop they had made inexplicably.

Norway shook his head, his platinum hair swaying gently. Things were getting nowhere, and they were in the middle of nowhere, with nothing that breathed and stirred apart from those nightmarish monsters and the vast forest. But then again, neither monster nor plant could help them out of this isolated area.

* * *

The six of them had been lazing around their little camping ground, each lost in their own thoughts. They had all been confounded with the prospect that there was almost no chance of getting out of here.

Prussia had been using a lot stick to dig small, deep holes into the soil. He didn't know what to do and Poland was sitting not far off from him. The others had been scattered around the precinct, all in their own musings, they weren't too far, but they weren't very near either.

"When do you think we'll be able to get outta here?" Poland asked dismally.

As Prussia opened his mouth to respond, a soft twittering sound could be heard. Both Poland and Prussia sat ramrod straight as they tried to pinpoint the soft chirping sounds.

Suddenly a burst of yellow exploded from the above canopy and flew right at Prussia before swerving abruptly into the air and flying off in a random direction.

"T-That's, like, A BIRD." Poland gasped, clearly unable to believe his eyes. No one could blame him; it was, after all, the first creature they've seen that was so similar to the birds back home.

Prussia immediately leaped up. And just like a fool, Prussia ran after it hollering, "Wait! Wait for me!"

As Prussia chased after it, with Poland stumbling behind at his heels, Prussia realized that the forest was beginning to thin out and soon a distant light could be seen. As they ran towards it, the yellow bird seemed to egg them on to the destination.

When both Prussia and Poland were out of the forest shrubs, their school pants torn and snagged by the brambles and their hair tousled, they were both greeted by an oversized, looming, huge shrub wall.

The wall was maintained and well trimmed. The surfaces were perfectly flat, with thick canopies of leaves. The walls curved perfectly further down on both sides and right in front of them was a hollow in the wall. An entrance. A dark, murky entrance that didn't seem very inviting.

Simply put, it was a maze. And since there's nowhere else to go, the only other option for the six stranded victims was to move forward. Onward.


End file.
